Most modern automotive vehicles undergo an evaluation process during vehicle development. One aspect of the evaluation process is to verify that a brake hose assembly provides the necessary packaging and clearance requirements for being installed into a vehicle. Specifically, that the brake hose is contained within a packaging constraint and maintains a proper clearance distance to surrounding components.
Previously the evaluation of the brake hose assembly was performed by prototyping a plurality of brake hose assemblies each having a brake hose and a fitting fixedly secured to each end of the brake hose. Each of the plurality of brake hose assemblies has at least a difference in fixed length or orientation. The distance of the brake hose between the fittings fixedly secured to either end of the brake hose defines the length. The rotational angle between brake hose and one of the fittings defines an orientation or shape of the brake hose.
In order to evaluate the brake hose assembly for the proper packaging and clearance requirements, one of the plurality of brake hose assemblies is installed onto the vehicle. The vehicle undergoes an evaluation to subject the vehicle to a full range of motion. The full range of motion includes a full depression and release of a suspension apparatus and full steering of the wheel.
If the installed brake hose fails to provide the proper packaging and clearance requirements, the installed brake hose assembly is removed. A new brake hose assembly having a different fixed length or different fixed orientation is installed onto the vehicle. Upon installation of the new brake hose assembly, the evaluation process is repeated.
The process of removing the previous brake hose assembly, installing of a new brake hose assembly having a different dimensions, and evaluating the new brake hose assembly is repeated over and over again until a suitable brake hose assembly is discovered. The suitable brake hose assembly is then measured to determine the length and angle, and manufacturing of production brake hose assemblies to be installed into a completed vehicle is commenced.
In some situations, none of the prototyped brake hose assemblies meets the packaging and clearance requirements. Therefore, an entire new set of brake hose assemblies having different variations of the fixed length and fixed angled orientation must be prototyped. The evaluation of the brake hose assembly is delayed until the new set of brake hose assemblies is constructed. Once the construction of the new set of brake hose assemblies is complete, the installation, evaluation and removal process begins again.
As such, the evaluation of the brake hose assembly is a time consuming process due to the repeated installation and removal of a number of different brake hose assemblies. In addition, the evaluation requires the construction of a number of different brake hose assemblies each having an individual variation in at least length and angled orientation. Therefore, the evaluation process results in an increase in manufacturing expenses, due to the number of brake hose assemblies required to be prototyped. The evaluation process further results in a decrease in efficiency as the time required to evaluate the brake hose assembly is increased due to the repeated installation, evaluation and removal of various brake hose assemblies. Consequently, the overall vehicle evaluation expense is increased due to the increased number of parts and increased time to evaluate the vehicle.
Thus, there exists a need in the art to improve the previously known brake hose assembly prototyping and method thereof so as to reduce the number of brake hose assemblies constructed and the time to complete of the vehicle evaluation.